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Despite the Galaxy Federation's initial success in the war with the ORN Empire, the antagonistic force continues to grow stronger. The Federation decides to decipher a plan to eliminate the empire by attacking it directing at its central source of power, unfortunately they are left unaware by the location of this central power source. In response, the Federation constructs a small, but powerful starfighter, the Styx, to track down and destroy cloaking devices installed on five separate planets. Upon successfully destroying these devices, Styx tracks down and destroys a Cerberus space cruiser used by the ORN Empire and uses it to locate the position of a base that happens to be where the central source of power is located. Styx manages to infiltrate the base and maneuver its way through the obstacles in the hostile territory, it finally locates the power source: a supercomputer called Khaos. After an intense battle, the starfighter destroys the supercomputer and successfully escapes the base before it self-destructs. In the end, Styx returns to its base, and turns in its frame.

Styx sprite

The Styx acts as the conceptional model to its successor the Rynex. However, the Styx appears in a supporting cameo in the fifth level assisting the Rynex in a space battle against the modified Cerebrus cruiser. Here, it is revealed that the starfighter has been mass-produced, as several individual fighters of the model engage in combat alongside its successor, with two assisting the Rynex circumnavigate the Volbados , and another six engaging in battle with the ORN Faust. In the end, all crafts save for three are destroyed in the battle against the ORN Faust, the surviving ships dock the Rynex in mid-flight and install the Thunder Sword modification onto the player's starfighter before leaving.

Six models of the Styx make a cameo appearance during the battle against the ORN Faust

When Thunder Force VI's "Dreamcast" Opening was revealed, it showed a new variant of the Styx called "Styx Rev.2", featuring an RVR color scheme.

Also, the cover of Broken Thunder: Project Thunder Force VI shows the original Styx along with the Rynex, Gauntlet, Vambrace and Syrinx, implying that the ship would be along the "playable" aircraft. Sadly, the game was cancelled.

Although the original starfighter does not actually appear in this game. The ORN Faust uses its core to transform into an evil version of this craft, alongside ones of the Rynex and the Gauntlet. In the end, this version gets destroyed by the player's ship and then transforms into evil versions of the latter mentioned starfighters, before presumably being destroyed by the player's ship.

Styx boasts a total of 5 weapons, two of which can be upgraded further since the starfighter has two by default.

Twin Shot - A twin stream of rapid firing energy shots are unleashed directly in front of the fighter. This is one of the initial weapons and cannot be lost upon death.

Back Shot - A single stream of rapid firing energy shots are unleashed in front and back of the fighter. This is one of the initial weapons and cannot be lost upon death.

Sever - A drastic upgrade to the Twin Shot, this shoots up to four medium size and length lasers of high power. Sever can decimate enemies in seconds.

Lancer - An upgrade to the Back Shot that shoots bigger shots behind the fighter.

Wave - This weapon shoots a rapid fire wave that splits into smaller waves if it hits a target. With skill, one can hit multiple targets using the split waves.

Fire - This weapon shoots fast missiles up and down that travel along the terrain. However, the Styx can only use a one stream of shots, so offense is greatly reduced. If equipped with the CRAWs, they will shoot close-range shots in front and behind, greatly enhancing firepower.

Hunter - This weapon homes in on any enemy with fast energy balls. The weapon is weaker but this is offset by the rapid speed of fire, being very accurate, and is able to go through terrain.

CLAW - These are pods that orbit around the Styx. They enhance firepower, usually doubling the shots, and also acts as a makeshift shield, blocking some enemy shots.